Religion: a wretched excursion into a world of illusion and ignorance. (DBS)

Reaction to Irish abuse report

The extent of abuse at Catholic institutions has been revealed in a report

Sexual abuse was endemic in boys’ institutions and a chronic problem in some residential institutions ran by the Catholic Church in Ireland, a report has said. Here is some of the reaction to the publication of the report.

JOHN WALSH, IRISH SURVIVORS OF CHILD ABUSE

“The little comfort we have is the knowledge that it vindicated the victims who were raped and sexually abused.

“I’m very angry, very bitter, and feel cheated and deceived.

“I would have never opened my wounds if I’d known this was going to be the end result.

“It has devastated me and will devastate most victims because there is no criminal proceedings and no accountability whatsoever.”

CARDINAL SEAN BRADY, LEADER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN IRELAND

“This report makes it clear that great wrong and hurt were caused to some of the most vulnerable children in our society. It documents a shameful catalogue of cruelty: neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, perpetrated against children.

“I am profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful ways in these institutions. Children deserved better and especially from those caring for them in the name of Jesus Christ.

“I hope the publication of today’s report will help to heal the hurts of victims and to address the wrongs of the past.

“The Catholic Church remains determined to do all that is necessary to make the Church a safe, life-giving and joyful place for children.”

MOST REVEREND VINCENT NICHOLS, LEADER OF CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND AND WALES

“It’s very distressing and very disturbing and my heart goes out today first of all to those people who will find that their stories are now told in public…

“Secondly, I think of those in religious orders and some of the clergy in Dublin who have to face these facts from their past which instinctively and quite naturally they’d rather not look at.

“That takes courage, and also we shouldn’t forget that this account today will also overshadow all of the good that they also did.

JOHN KELLY, ABUSE VICTIM

“This document, this inquiry vindicates what victims have said. It mentions where children were raped and brutally abused.

“And victims will feel vindicated by that, that will give them some comfort.

“However, this report’s conclusions go very, very, very short of the expectations of the victims. What they wanted was that the courts who sent them, detained them unlawfully in the institutions that were investigated, these courts that violated their constitutional rights weren’t even inquired into.

“And because of that this inquiry is deeply flawed, it’s incomplete and many might call it a whitewash.”

EAMON GILMORE, IRISH LABOUR PARTY LEADER

“The Dail will have to debate the role of the Department of Education both then in respect of its responsibilities and more recently in respect of the agreement which was made with the congregations on the redress and the cost of that to the taxpayer.”

FATHER MICHAEL MERNAGH, AUGUSTINIAN ORDER

“I am appalled at the extent and, I would call it, the longevity of the abuse that has gone on in these institutions – not just sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse and other abuse.

“And really I am appalled particularly at the role of the state and the government that seem to have colluded in actually encouraging children to be brought into these institutions to keep up the numbers.”

BRIAN COWEN, IRISH PRIME MINISTER

“While the government can put in place procedures and measures for the protection of our children, we all in society must be alert to the dangers that exist and be vigilant to what is going on in our communities and have the courage to intervene when the welfare of a child is put at risk.”

He says it is ‘particularly’ the fault of the Govt who sent the kids to the Institutions of torment.

WRONG you sanctimonious blame-shifting fuckwit!!!! it is the fault of the filthy holier-than-thou perpetrators, who not only tortured these children but also hid it from the Government, disguising themselves as a caring order who are ‘doing god’s work’. These criminals need to face the courts.

A grass roots solution is for all women to go on a global BIRTH STRIKE and for abortion to be legalized in Ireland TO DEPRIVE PEDOPHILE PRIESTS AND MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY NUNS OF FRESH VICTIMS. All Catholics should stop donating, remove their kids from church schools and demand a UN investigation. But the bigger, ignored scandals here are that MILLIONS of “sinful” kids have been maimed/murdered in Church-facilitated medical experiments by the CIA, Pentagon, Nazi doctors, and pharmaceutical companies. I am a victim of such Munchausen by Proxy abuse. Also, the “anti-contraception and -abortion” Vatican hoodwinks condoms and abortions that save philandering and pedophile priests’ careers. The best revenge is for all women to deny the Vatican new members.

Heil Mary, I agree with denying the Vatican new members and totally bringing down the sect.
Still, it’s our duty to educate the kids and teens and guide them so they can become free-thinkers and doers.
Striking is great ! But, the fact of Life is that humans are still going to reproduce and conceive offspring. Our human brain is still searching and looking for some spiritual answers because of our fear of death. I am an anarchist in my mind, but unfortunately, guidelines and rules and also compromise and diplomacy are still needed to live together with all our different cultures.
Ii is a GREAT START, though as long as I just don’t sit around and talk about it but DO !!

Juliet, thanks for your support! Of course, a total birth strike, like the anti-war women’s sex strike in Lysistrata, is impossible, but a publicized brief 10-20% drop in births and abortion legalization in Ireland would certainly infuriate these fetal idolators who molest or medically maim kids after they’re born. Women must also educate everyone on childbirth’s grotesque dangers–like deadly, divorce-causing bladder and bowel fistulas and deadly breast and face-eating cancers that killed women I knew. My childbirth-incontinent mom was encouraged by a playboy priest to chemically burn all my skin as her pregnancy-avoiding marital abstinence excuse. I wish she had aborted me instead. A life of insults from “pro-life” Catholics about my looks is not worth living. Even if I was better looking, I still would not have kids.